"The web series can take many shapes, from a no-budget serial made in high-school media classes to Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog to Netflix’s long-format House of Cards. These are just three of probably thousands of web series out there produced, written, and directed specifically for the Internet. But there are other roads to web series. Here are five of them.

The Longish Short Film Repurposed into a Web Series

Filmmaking partners Jacob Hensberry and Ken Cook had plan for their short film, Planet X, a stylized, modern romantic comedy with sci-fi leanings. “We were going to use the traditional formula of making a short, getting into some festivals, getting some attention and turning it into a feature,” director Hensberry said. But Cook, his writing and producer partner, knew there was a problem. “I immediately knew that we were screwed on the festival front. [Planet X was] too long and it has a cliffhanger ending..."

Simon Staffans: "I think we can all agree that the world is a pretty complex place. It would be easier for most of us if it was simply cleary black and white, right and wrong, for and against, like a LOTR movie with all nuances wiped away."

Alastair Reid :"Interactive media lecturer Sandra Gaudenzi shared her theory of balancing audience agency with authorship at the CIJ Summer Conference today, and gave examples of stories across the spectrum" ...

Alastair Reid :"Interactive media lecturer Sandra Gaudenzi shared her theory of balancing audience agency with authorship at the CIJ Summer Conference today, and gave examples of stories across the spectrum" ...

Michele Brittany: "Comfort and Adam use the term “comics” to encompass comics, manga and webcomics. Obviously, if you are thinking and researching the self-publishing route, this book is for you. [...] This book is also for creative individuals who are not looking to self-publish. As a freelance writer of popular culture, this book armed me with comic book industry terminology and knowledge that I did not have before."

Robert Pratten: "Stories are the way we make sense of the world. Our minds can’t deal with randomness and we see connections, causes and reasons even where there are none. Whether we are happy or sad, positive or negative, this is often the result of the story we construct – it’s the meaning we attribute to events and things that without human interpretation have no meaning. So powerful is story that the life we lead today is a result of the stories we told ourselves in the past.

Transitioning from user manual to a digital learning ecosystem? Have you considered how to differentiate across platforms or are you trying to duplicated the same information? What can be gleaned from transmedia storytelling to make even the most technical training interesting and available?

"This is the second edition of Robert Pratten's massively popular Getting Started in Transmedia Storytelling. It's a practical guide to developing cross-platform and pervasive entertainment written by a thought-leader and early practitioner."

Characters – the importance of storyConvenience – the importance of getting the right content to the right people at the right timeCommunity – the importance of connecting fans and rewarding them.

At the intersections we see the actions and functions we must support:

Characters+Convenience – the personalization of the story experience for each person based on their relationship to the worldConvenience+Community – the continued “personalization” but in a broader sense as applied to audience segments. For example an audience team collaborates to unlock content that only they can see. Also at this intersection is the ability to share content and refer friends to the worldCommunity+Characters – this is the relationship between the community and the world. Creators should provide opportunities to strengthen the relationship through procedures and technology to allow fan contributions, character interactions and such like.

The rise of big content is one of Gartner's top 5 emerging trends in digital marketing: "content is the most important thing marketers can do and yet they’re unequipped to take it on from a skills and sourcing level.”

Jeni Mawter's insight:

Freelance writers can help companies keep up with high goals for content publishing. This includes writers for children and young adults!

Fascinating new ways to present narratives... "letting us experience stories in a visceral, multi-sensual, personal and participatory way." "Clouds over Sidra" is one of the projects featured in the exhibit created by vrse tools. This virtual reality project immerses the viewer into a Syrian refugee camp through the eyes of a 12 year old girl. Although vrse tools are out of my capacity to navigate, I can only imagine how cool it would be to recreate historical events in a virtual reality to allow students to explore the past in such an intimate way.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.